WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF EPILEPSY

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From the moment I heard this song, it quickly became one of my favorites. I vividly remember walking through Piccadilly Circus in London surroundedby all of the colorful lights and feeling chills run down my spin when the horns would come blaring in. This song is off of Kanye’s most recent album “My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy” which missed qualifications for the Grammys last year by only a few weeks but is already expected to win numerous awards. The song tells the story of a family in turmoil, and lists events from the abuse of his girlfriend or wife, to coming home to her with another man, and supervised visits with his young daughter. Although this song does tell the story of some violence against women, it is vastly different from that which is normally in hip-hop music. It doesn’t promote such behavior, but rather shows the negative consequences and advises against such a crime. The larger scale story is about life in the “ghetto” and the street life education he got and was trying to shield his daughter from.

This album has done wonders to repair Kanye’s image in the music industry after his infamous moment involving Taylor Swift and has many of the people who criticized and berated him coming out and calling him a musical genius.

1) Texture:

a) Homophonic

2) Timbre:

a) Male Vocals

b) Female Vocals

c) Piano

d) Violin

e) Trumpet

f) Drums

g) Synthesizer

3) Melody

a) Major/Minor

4) Harmony

a) Consonant

5) Rhythm – Tempo

a) Presto

6) Rhythm – Meter

a) Duple

7) Genre

a) Hip-Hop

b) RnB

8) Producers

a) Kanye West

b) Jeff Bhasker

9) Text

a) Kanye West

b) Jeff Bhasker

c) Malik Jones

d) Warren Trotter

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Lupe Fiasco, or Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, is an American rapper born in Chicago on February 16, 1982, of West African descent.  He was raised by his father who was a member of the Black Panther Party, an African American revolutionary organization.  He started out in a group called Da Pak when he was 19, which catered to the audience of “gangster rap.”  Their music was influenced by the typical gangster life that consisted of drugs, sex, and violence.  After releasing one single, the group split up.  In Fiasco’s own words, he said, “I was acting like this rapper who would never be judged, and I had to destroy that guy. Because what Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone is going to come back to Wasalu Jaco. When the music cuts off, you have to go home and live with what you say,” and he started to produce songs which focused on the lyrical elements instead.

In 2007 he released his second album, The Cool, with “Superstar” as the first single.  The track “Superstar” showcases Fiasco’s lyrical skills and his unique delivery style.  In the 1st verse, he talks about the fame and glory of reaching stardom as a newcomer, as a “fresh cool young Lu.”  In the 2nd verse however, he points out that being a star is not as desirable as it seems to be.  The spotlight “can burn holes through the stage…and set the forest ablaze.”  It is exaggerated, but effectively shows the pressure that stars face on the stage.  The line, “cause they’ve been waitin’ since ten to see the lights get dim”, suggests that the audience is actually waiting for the star’s downfall, the moment when the spotlight dims.  The final verse concludes Fiasco’s thoughts, “So just take me home where the mood is mellow/And the roses are grown, M&M’s are yellow/And the light bulbs around my mirror don’t flicker,” saying that he rather chooses to be true to himself than to live the life of a star.  It may sound a bit cliche, but Fiasco’s brilliant way of delivery makes up for it.

Elements of Music

Texture: Homophonic

Timber: Male voice/Drums/Tambourine/Piano

Melody: Major

Harmony: Consonant

Tempo: Fast

Meter: Duple

Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop

Composers: Rudolph Loyola Lopez, Wasalu Jaco

Text: Wasalu Jaco (Lupe Fiasco)

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Kanye Omari West is an American born rapper from Chicago, Illinois who was inspired by the  Wu Tang Clan. This song “We Don’t Care” was released on his debut album The College Drop Out in 2004. When Kanye came out with this album it destroyed the concept on gangster rap bring  the only form of Hip Hop since it was the only thing being done at the time. Even though a video was never produced in the lyrics of the song “We Don’t Care” Kanye tells you to have self worth no matter how you grew up,where you came from and literally don’t care about what people say because your living life the way you want to and that is why I love this song so much. Everyone who listens will literally come to love this song I have seen it.Because of Kanye’s messages about family values,expressing yourself and religion The College Dropout won Kanye a Grammy Award, went 3x Platinum, and was recognized as the tenth best album of the last decade by Rolling Stone magazine.

Elements of Music

1. Texture
a. Polyphonic

2. Timbre
a. Male Voice
b. Female Voice
c. Rhythm

3. Melody
a. Major

4. Harmony
a. Consonant

5. Rhythm – Tempo
a. Moderate

6. Rhythm – Meter
a. Duple

7. Genre
a. rap, hip-hop

8. Composer
a. Kanye WesT
b. John Legend
c. Keyshia Cole

9. If there is text, who wrote the text
a. Kanye WesT

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Fort Minor was the brainchild of Linkin Park vocalist, guitarist, and writer Mike Shinoda. Shinoda provided several rap sections to many songs produced by Linkin Park. Some of his musical influences include U2, Bloc Party, Led Zeppelin, and Dr. Dre. As a side project, he began working on a hip-hop rap album that would be debut album of Fort Minor. Coupled with the group Styles of Beyond, Shinoda created The Rising Tied, featuring several hit singles including “Petrified”, “Believe Me”, and most famously “Remember the Name”. Shinoda got Jay-Z, who had previously worked with Linkin Park, to be the executive producer of the album, giving it some reputation in the industry. The album was released in 2005, the debut for a group that virtually had one member with featuring artists.

“Remember the Name” was the third single on the album, The Rising Tied. After being leaked on the Internet prior to the album’s release, the song gained much hype, increasing the anticipation for the album. After its official release, “Remember the Name” was featured in several high profile media appearances, including the theme for the NBA Finals in 2006 and 2007. It has also been featured in several popular movie trailers, showing the extent to which the song was used in the media. A music video was produced in 2006, and it signaled the end Fort Minor’s mini run of fame, according to Mike Shinoda.

As for the meaning of the song, “Remember the Name”, Mike Shinoda has been quoted as saying that the chorus details the scientific breakdown of music and what it takes to make it big in the industry. As the chorus states, “This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill/ Fifteen percent concentrated power of will/ Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain/ And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!” Clearly, with Shinoda’s success in Linkin Park as well as Fort Minor, he must have known how to ma5ke it big. Styles of Beyond, the featured group on this track, join Shinoda in detailing past successes and musical history. Each rapper talks about his own history in the third person, giving the song an increased level of appeal. The song reached only as high as 66 on Billboard’s Top 100 Chart, despite its success in the media as a whole.

Elements of Music

1. Texture
a. Homophonic

2. Timbre
a. Male Voices

b. Violins
c. Cello/Bass

d. Drums

3. Melody
a. Minor

4. Harmony
a. Consonant

5. Rhythm – Tempo
a. Allegro/Andante – Moderately Fast

6. Rhythm – Meter
a. Duple

7. Genre
a. Rap/Hip-Hop

8. Composer
a. Mike Shinoda
b. Takbir Bashir (Tak)
c. Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu)

9. If there is text, who wrote the text
a. Mike Shinoda
b. Takbir Bashir (Tak)
c. Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu)

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Alicia Augello Cook  also known as Alicia Keys was born January 25, 1981 in New York City. Alicia is an well known musician, recording artist, pianist, and actress. Alicia Keys is most known for chart topping hit song “Fallin” and unforgettable performances involving the piano. In most of her songs, she incorporates the piano and usually speaks about love, happiness and female empowerment. Alicia is sometimes referred to the “Princess of Soul.” Artist like Marvin Gaye, TuPac, Notorious B.I.G, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and Donny Hathaway has always had a big influence on Keys. The song “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” is the second single from Alicia’s fourth studio album Elements of Freedom. The song is an R&B song, mix with soul and Hip-Hop. Alicia Keys stated “The song is wonderful, and describes where I’m at now.” The video describes a visual yet artistic view of the true meaning of the song. The song is about a very painful break-up. Even though she has been lied to by the man, she still loves him dearly. Her love for him is so strong she finds it difficult to sleep at night or carry on with her daily life without seeing his face. The video starts off with the women reminiscing on a dark purple mass of water in which I interpret as a dead relationship. The scene whereas she saved a dying dog for the little girl, by touching him, the little girls shows a lot of love to her dog because she is happy he is alive. Alicia portrays herself as a superhero in a purple and black superhero outfit, which signifies the relationship is dead but she needs to be strong. At the end, she sees him and tries to touch him, but it hurts him as she touches his face, this signifies she really needs to let go because the relationship hurts both her and him.

Elements of Music

1. Texture
a. Homophonic

2. Timbre
a. Female Voice
b. Keyboard
c. Piano
d. Percussion

3. Melody
a. Major

4. Harmony
a. Consonant

5. Rhythm – Tempo
a. walking pace = andante

6. Rhythm – Meter
a. Duple

7. Genre
a. R&B, Soul

8. Composer
a. Jeffrey Nath Bhasker
b. Alicia Keys
c. Patrick Reynolds

9. If there is text, who wrote the text
a. Jeffrey Nath Bhasker
b. Alicia Keys
c. Patrick Reynolds